The Italian government would have received a proposal for ITA Airways from two competitors, according to the country’s press. One of them would be the consortium formed by MSC and Lufthansa.
The other participant in the auction would be the Certares fund, which has formed a partnership with Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines – the companies, however, have not commented on the matter to European outlets.
There was an expectation that Indigo Partners, owner of several low-cost airlines, would also participate in the competition, but the group would have given up.
Lufthansa and MSC are said to have proposed to acquire 80% of the controlling interest in ITA Airways. The shipping company aims to take 60% of the airline that replaced Alitalia since October 2021, according to Reuters sources.
The deal is estimated at between $1bn and $2bn, according to the Italian press. The government intends to complete the sale process by the end of June.
Healthy portion of Alitalia
ITA Airways was created by the Italian government as a more attractive flag carrier solution following the failure of several attempts to sell Alitalia’s estate. For this, the new company took over part of the routes, planes and employees of the predecessor, in addition to receiving an injection of state resources to start its operations.
The company inherited around 50 aircraft that flew with Alitalia, but has already started the renewal of the fleet by receiving the first Airbus A350 and placing an order for 28 new jets with the European manufacturer.
